


the dawn of the resistance

by hearden



Series: trimberly week 2018 [4]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, F/F, Trimberly Week
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-01 18:12:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15148934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearden/pseuds/hearden
Summary: A scoundrel living on the fringes of the galaxy, Kimberly Hart has survived acting like she doesn't need the rest of world because it claimed to not need her. But, a chance encounter brings her running right into a Jedi Padawan who comes with a bounty on her head and into the middle of a war she tried her best to ignore. Kim hasn't quite learned -- the Force has a way of making sure the past catches up, no matter how fast she runs.(day four of trimberly week)





	the dawn of the resistance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [andawaywego](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andawaywego/gifts), [myndopeus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/myndopeus/gifts).
  * Inspired by [luminous beings are we](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11725254) by [andawaywego](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andawaywego/pseuds/andawaywego). 



> for andy, who wrote a star wars au fic so good i cried and that fic also inspired me to write this au, and myn, who is my kotor homie for life
> 
> no knowledge of star wars: knights of the old republic is required too much to understand everything because i tried to exposition in the fic, but i did put an opening crawl bc that’s THE star wars aesthetic and enough exposition tbh. also if u like star wars and rpgs, knights of the old republic is available on amazon, ebay, ios, and steam and it's the best game i've ever played, nothing has ever even come close to be completely honest
> 
> contains moderate spoilers for the first uhhhh i'd say 3-6 hours or so of the game (that would be the first level) but i’ve taken creative liberties with the plot
> 
>  **warnings:** mentions of background character deaths and war trauma (and the killing that comes along with war)

**A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…**

**THE DAWN OF THE RESISTANCE**

_Four thousand years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, its ancestor, the GALACTIC REPUBLIC is recovering from a series of conflicts known as the Mandalorian Wars. Hatred for the Jedi Order is at an all-time high as the Order remained neutral, causing a dissident group of Jedi calling themselves the Draconics to break off and aid the losing Republic fleet. In a rapid turn of events, the Republic was led to a glorious victory by Jedi Knight, Tommie Oliver, at the Battle of Malachor V with a sacrifice that wiped out the Mandalorian fleet -- and half of the Republic's as well._

_Chasing the Mandalorian fleet deep into the Unknown Regions, Tommie and her Draconics returned to Republic space that was ready to welcome them as heroes -- but they had turned into conquerors. The newly-coined Lord Drakkon led her SITH EMPIRE against the same Republic she had sworn to protect, and thus began the Jedi Civil War._

_Broken and demoralized from the toll of losing so many brothers and sisters to war, the Jedi Order has one last hope: a Padawan hidden away on the Endar Spire with the power to change the tide of the war. Lord Drakkon, however, is aware of her existence and has tracked her down in an ambush above the planet Taris. The only thing standing between the fall of the Galactic Republic and the decimation of the Jedi Order is one lucky scoundrel, Kimberly Hart, hired to work her arrest record away on the Endar Spire…_

 

-

 

///// N-7 TARIS  
///// W26 M4 CENTAXDAY 3956 BBY  
///// LOCATION: _THE ENDAR SPIRE, GALACTIC REPUBLIC NAVY_

It was only supposed to be some reparation job.

"That's what they all say," Kim mutters to herself as she flattens herself against the corridor wall before peeking around the corner. A lone Sith trooper is patrolling the corridor, a blaster rifle in his hands, his metallic, silver armor throwing reflections of the overhead lights in various directions. His footsteps are loud as all Sith are. It takes a certain obnoxious aura to be a trooper. Kim personally doesn't care for anyone who says they're just "doing their jobs", but she'd _maybe_ give some exception to desk workers or those other low-level office types. Troopers, however, go through a whole range of hoops just to put that blank, soulless armor on, so she has no sympathy for them.

Which means she has no sympathy for this one.

His pattern is easy to track with just her ears because, once again, his boots are loud. He owns this corridor, just like they now own this ship, but he's not going to own her life. She doesn't have a blaster on her person, which sucks and is just another thing she's going to add onto her list of why she's never going to take another job for the Republic ever again. The list starts with the pay being worth junk, and it is currently at their damn regulations about only _authorized_ crew members carrying weapons when they're on shift because, apparently, not everyone needs to have a weapon at their side at all times.

What, are they afraid she's going to go all scoundrel on them and shoot someone? Shoot their precious cargo or their precious Jedi?

Well, she wonders how the Republic likes its blasted regulations _now._

The trooper gets to the end of his route, close to her corner but not crossing her path, and then turns around to loop, and that's when she strikes. Her boots are by her side, tied together by the laces. Her footsteps are muted, practically silent, with her just socks against the metal floor; Kim can feel bits of debris and dirt rubbing through the fabric against the soles of her feet, but it's more practical this way. She sneaks up behind him, closer and closer, and, damn, he's taller than she'd expected the closer she gets--

Kim leaps on his back, using her arms to grab onto his shoulders, and wraps her legs around his waist. Once she gets a quick hold, she loops her boots around his neck, where his armor doesn't quite cover and gives way to a cloth underlay, yanking backwards as he struggles in surprise at the new weight. She kicks his blaster rifle out of his hands, and it loudly clanks on the floor, several feet away, but that, unfortunately, frees up his hands.

He claws at the shoelaces against his neck then, when that doesn't work, tries to reach for her face, but Kim just yanks harder. The trooper coughs and chokes, stumbling backwards, too close to the wall. He must realize it, too, because then he abruptly slams himself backward into the wall, leaving Kim to take all the brunt.

The air is knocked out of her lungs, and her head smacks against the metal paneling on the wall. Stars flicker across her vision. She loses her grip on her boots, and that's enough for him to grab her arm and flip her over his back. Kim hits the ground with a shout and rolls over onto her side, clutching at it as pain ignites all over, her eyes filling with tears and stars.

Reaching out, she grabs at his ankle and tries to yank him down to even the fight out, but he doesn't budge. He closes a gloved hand around her hair, making to drag her up, and Kim yanks on his ankle again out of desperation.

The trooper goes flying, almost taking her with him, and Kim widens her eyes in shock. Shit, she hadn't known she was _that_ strong.

Then, Kim looks up and sees the woman at the end of the corridor, from the direction she had been planning on going, and it all makes sense. The woman's hand is outstretched, and that's what clues Kim in. That and the obvious lightsabers hanging from her belt, one on each side. She's not wearing those traditional bland, earthy tunics that Kim's seen Jedi in before, though, but rather a dark yellow pilot's jacket and black pants with rips in the knees. Her hair is a deep brown, flowing to her shoulders in waves on the left side and shaved to an undercut on the right side.

Kim stumbles to her feet, leaning against the wall and trying to catch her breath. The Jedi walks over to the body of the trooper -- who had landed in a weird way on his neck that leaves Kim with no doubt that he's dead -- and bends down, prying off his helmet with her hand. "Good," she gasps, still trying to not focus on the pain, well, everywhere, "Best to check if he's dead."

"Oh, I know he's dead," the Jedi says, quietly, "I heard it when he landed." Kim half-stumbles closer to look at the trooper. His face is young. _He's_ young, eyes still open and staring blankly ahead, maybe a little shocked and afraid, but she's not surprised. That's what this galaxy is made up of. She sees a face just like his almost every morning, if she's bold enough to find a reflective surface.

The Jedi closes his eyes with a gentle hand and works his helmet back over his head.

Kim frowns, doesn't get why she bothers, but then her frown is gone because the Jedi looks up at her and stands.

"Are you okay?" she asks, softly, and Kim remembers why she doesn't like Jedi. They're so… _serene._

"Yeah," she mutters, grabbing her boots from the floor and unlacing them so she can tug them on, "Thanks."

"Why are you barefoot?"

Kim huffs. "I was--" Struggles with her left boot and tries her best not to look up because she knows the Jedi is watching her. "I was sneaking up on him." Finally gets both boots on and straightens up, putting her hands on her hips. She comes out to a couple of inches taller than the Jedi, and that makes her feel good. "I had it handled."

The Jedi raises her eyebrows. "Sure, you did."

Kim narrows her eyes a little bit. "Didn't know Jedi could be sarcastic," she mutters, slightly mockingly.

The Jedi scowls. There it is. But chooses to let it slide, apparently, and nods at the corridor Kim just left. "Anyone else?"

"Uh, no," Kim answers, "Just me. These are the… non-crew quarters, you know that, right? I'm the only… non-crew."

"You survived the boarding party with just your boots?" she asks, glancing Kim over. Self-consciously, Kim straightens out her leather jacket.

"I… hid in the ceiling," Kim mutters, "When they did a sweep of my quarters. Left that one guy behind in case anyone came this way."

"Good thing I did, then," the Jedi comments.

It's Kim turn to scowl. "I need to get to the armory and get off this damn ship."

"There might be other survivors elsewhere," the Jedi is saying, "The _Endar Spire_ is big, and they're looking for something specific--"

"Which means there won't _be_ any other survivors," Kim says, crassly, walking briskly past the Jedi, "No qualms about mowing down people who aren't the person they're looking for."

"You don't care about anyone else?" the Jedi asks, following her because there's only one corridor that leads out of here.

"I'm not Republic," Kim answers, brushing her off, "And, no offense, I'm not soft like you Jedi. I was paid to be a translator on this trip in case we went planetside, and that's it."

"Well," the Jedi snaps, speeding up to block her path, "If there's nobody left alive on this ship, then you don't get paid. Is that right?"

Kim frowns, deeply. She's sure this Jedi is going to force her face to stay like that. The Jedi looks a little too smug. "I'll make _you_ pay me. How 'bout that?"

The Jedi rolls her eyes. "There's only one way to the armory, and I'm the one with a lightsaber. How about _that?_ "

Scoffing, Kim grabs the Sith trooper's blaster rifle from the ground and checks the energy capacity -- more enough to last her to the armory if they run into any more trouble so she can grab her own weapons. "I'm not defenseless," she remarks, holding the blaster rifle by her side as she continues down the corridor. This Sith standard-issue is heavier, less modified than her own crossbow, but it'll have to do, considering, once again, the Republic and their blasted regulations.

The corridor ends in a door that, upon opening, reveals a small storage room, its containers and footlockers already looking ransacked and useless -- and two more dead Sith troopers.

"You did this?" Kim asks, glancing at the Jedi.

"Who else?"

There's no visible cause of death like gaping holes in their chests, so Kim just assumes that the Jedi used the Force.

"Why not the lightsaber?"

"I don't need it yet."

Kim scoffs. "If I still had a lightsaber, I'd be using it already."

The Jedi stops at the doorway leading out of the storage room, "Still?"

"Hm?"

"You said 'if I _still_ had a lightsaber'."

Kim furrows her brow and shakes her head, "No… I said 'still, if I had a lightsaber, I'd already be using it'." She keeps walking, careful to keep the tension out of her body with the Jedi following behind her.

They run into no more trouble on their way to the armory, seeing as there's only one path from the non-crew quarters and the Jedi had already crossed it. Sighing in relief, Kim carelessly tosses aside the Sith trooper's blaster rifle the moment she enters and looks for her footlocker. There's only one problem --

"Did I mention they--" The Jedi gestures to the three Sith troopers laying dead on the floor of the armory. "Shot the locking panels so that nobody could get to their weapons?"

"Not a problem…" Kim murmurs, pushing aside a Republic soldier's body and rummaging through his pockets for… "Aha." She pulls out his datapad and pulls out the cord in the back, hooking it up to her footlocker. "System's not completely fried," she comments, "So I should be able to--"

The datapad beeps angrily at her as error messages in Aurebesh flash across the screen then the device abruptly overheats in her hand, and she hastily drops it.

"Good job," the Jedi remarks. Kim looks over to see that she's smugly crossed her arms. "Here, let me." She waves her hand at the footlocker, and after a moment, it simply clicks open.

"I could've done that," Kim irritatedly mutters as she pries open the lid and retrieves her backpack, shoving her belongings into it -- her datapad, energy cells, a medpac, stimulants, extra clothes, an extra blaster pistol.

And the best for last. Kim slings the backpack over her shoulders and picks her crossbow up, pressing the button on the side of the grip that extends the limbs. Retractable, personally modified, and packs a hell of a better punch than anything the Republic _or_ Sith have on standard issue.

The Jedi scoffs and brushes past her. "Uncivilized," she mutters.

Whatever.

They continue onward, carefully, Kim more than willing to let the Jedi go in front of her now. Whoever goes in first gets killed first, and if it saves some skin off of her back, then as sure as a Hutt likes the sound of credits she'll let the Jedi go first.

"Aren't there supposed to be more of you?" Kim asks as they quietly round a corner, keeping her crossbow ready and peeking into an empty mechanical room only to find more dead Sith troopers and Republic soldiers. The Jedi obviously came from this way to find survivors on this side of the ship, but Kim wants to make sure, anyway. "I heard people talking during the night shift. You're supposed to be some big deal." Kim happens to like the night shift on the _Endar Spire_ \-- on any ship, really. People are quieter, more tired during the night and don't bother her, don't try to chat her up. However, she hears them talk while she keeps to herself. The _Endar Spire_ is on course to Taris because it was a rallying point during the Mandalorian Wars for the dissident Jedi and the Republic fleet, and now that things have changed and the scales have tipped in the other direction, the Republic wants to take Taris back from the Sith.

It's meant to be a quiet operation, probably, due to the fact that she was hired as a _translator_ as if they'd need one if it was going to be anything beyond diplomatic negotiations, but the Sith had already been waiting when the _Endar Spire_ jumped out of hyperspace.

The Jedi confirms this. "They were waiting for us," she responds, quietly but there's a slight edge in her voice, "The other two on the ship are gone. I'm the only one that's left." A hint of restrained bitterness. As the Jedi always are.

Kim has a hunch. "Are you… the important one?" she guesses.

" _Everyone_ is important," the Jedi says in that tone of voice that Kim had anticipated. Typical.

"The commander, then," Kim amends.

"Yes," the Jedi says, ducking underneath a steel beam that's fallen onto the ground from the ceiling. Kim follows her under, sniffling her nose in disdain at the smoke and soot in the air. "Trini," she says after a moment.

"Huh?"

"My name," she repeats, "It's Trini."

"Ah, right. Just Trini?"

"Yes," Trini says, turning her head to look but not flinching as one of the overhead lights sparks from the ceiling above them, showering them in heat and dirt, "Jedi don't keep their family names."

"That's not true," Kim mutters, "I've met different."

" _Some_ Jedi don't keep their family names," Trini amends.

"Okay, fair. I'm…" She briefly considers giving one of her aliases, but it's not worth anything. She's never going to see this Jedi ever again after she gets off this worthless ship. "Kimberly Hart."

"I know," Trini says, casually, stopping at the end of the corridor that splits off into two directions, "I read your dossier."

"Right."

"Crew quarters are this way." Trini points at the left fork then the right. "Bridge is that way." She starts walking in the direction of the bridge, so Kim assumes that Trini either came from the crew quarters or already cleared it earlier.

"Why didn't you just head for the escape pods the moment the alarm went off?" Kim questions. Not that she's not grateful for Trini's intervention-- well, actually, she isn't. She had it handled.

"I was on the bridge when they boarded from the landing bay in the lower deck. I heard one of my Jedi escorts died on the comms, so I went to evacuate the crew… but the chaos of the lower deck fighting was a distraction." The way she speaks is so… impersonal that Kim deeply frowns. There is some sadness in her voice, just a hint of it, but nothing more. The Jedi have always been like this -- detached, objective. Kim hates it.

The door to the bridge opens, and Kim sees the real carnage. Republic soldiers and Sith troopers alike lay dead on the floor, but these Sith troopers aren't wearing silver, flashy armor with soulless visors. Rather, their armor is a deep black that clings to their bodies like a suit made for stealth. A black mask is over all of their faces with blood red goggles for vision.

"Assassins," Trini explains, bending down to pry something off the belt of one of them.

Kim wonders if Trini took the time to mourn them, too, but she considers her question answered when she sees the gaping hole of a lightsaber wound in one of the assassins.

Trini holds the belt out to Kim. "Have you ever used a stealth field generator?"

"I've never had enough credits to get my _hands_ on the belt," Kim scoffs, taking the generator, "I've only ever used the suit… and _that_ I stole."

Trini stares at her a little disapprovingly.

Kim feels a little bit of embarrassment before she reminds herself that she doesn't _care_ about what a Jedi thinks of her. The stealth field generator has pouches, too, just like her belt, so she transfers the contents of her belt over and shoves her belt into her backpack. Latching the stealth field generator around her waist, she adjusts it to fit her. She looks up. Trini is still watching her.

"Oh, don't worry," she mutters, flippantly, "The only time I ever used stealth armor was in the Mandalorian Wars, so it's not like I was doing anything bad."

Trini disdainfully scoffs at that and steps over the bodies, carving out a path that Kim carefully follows. "I didn't know the Republic had been willing to use assassination in order to win the Wars."

"They hadn't been," Kim says, gripping her crossbow tightly in one hand and absently playing with the strap of her backpack with the other, "Tommie Oliver, however…"

Trini stiffens, and Kim sees her scowl even deeper, if possible. "Of course, she would."

"You knew her?" Kim asks, suddenly curious.

"No," Trini snaps, briskly, "And I wouldn't have wanted to. She's a traitor."

Kim barks out a laugh, causing Trini to shoot her an irritated glance just as they're about to reach the other door leading to the rest of the ship. "Oh, that's grand. And I guess you were one of the ones who stayed behind because it was the _right_ thing to do, huh?"

" _Yes._ Tommie and the Jedi who went with her _defied_ the Council--"

"Who _swore_ to protect the Republic," Kim interjects, crossing her arms and loosely dangling her crossbow from her fingers, "The Republic asked for help. _Begged_ for help. And the Jedi Order said no."

Trini whirls around, stepping over the body of a dead Republic officer to stand right in front of her, her eyes betraying the spark of anger that ignites. "The Order said to _wait_ because the Mandalorians weren't the most dangerous threat. Bloodthirsty barbarians, sure, but their attacks were too smart, too calculated to be the work of _just_ their entire fleet."

"Oh, please," Kim huffs, "I heard this all the time during the Wars. You Jedi and your fucking theory about this 'greater evil'. Well, answer me this. Say there _was_ something greater. Where the hell is it now? We _won._ So, you're welcome. Tommie and these other Jedi Knights that you hate so much -- they're the reason we're _all_ not speaking Mando'a right now."

Just then, an explosion rocks the ship, and Trini wavers. Kim holds out her hands to steady the other woman, but Trini doesn't stumble. Instead, Trini shoots her a quick glare and turns around, storming off to exit the bridge. " _That's_ the greater evil," Trini calls over her shoulder, "Drakkon."

Kim jogs to catch up with Trini. "Well, maybe if the Order hadn't abandoned them all--"

Trini holds up a hand to shush her then motions to her ears.

Kim focuses and hears several pairs of footsteps in the corridor ahead. One, two, three, four… maybe five? She holds up four fingers and then five at Trini and raises her eyebrows. Trini motions back with five then points two at Kim.

She'll take two. Got it.

She can definitely take _more_ than that, but whatever. The morally high and mighty Jedi Commander is in charge.

Trini mouths at her, _We take them together._

Kim nods and readies her crossbow, finger on the trigger. The moment Trini motions her forward, she's moving right beside the Jedi, rounding the corner and assessing the situation. Five Sith troopers, dressed in the silver armor of the regular infantry, stand around, milling about, blaster rifles in hand. Trini puts out her hand, throwing two of them down the length of the corridor where one of them is clearly dead the moment he crashes into the ceiling then falls to the floor and the other one groans in pain, out of commission for now. Kim fires off two shots at two other troopers, aiming for their necks where the plasma will burn through the cloth easier than their armor. Both fall instantly, but one manages to fire off a shot at her in return as he falls.

It burns through her jacket and hits her in her left side. Kim screams out in pain, her ribcage quickly igniting in agony, even as the plasma quickly fades and cauterizes the wound. Dropping to her knees, she aims through blurry eyes that are already welling up with tears and shoots her attacker dead with two shots that burn straight through his visor.

"Kim!" Trini hastily rushes to her side, but Kim shakes her off, dropping her crossbow and pressing her hand to her side.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I have a bacta patch. The last one--"

Another shot sounds out, but Trini reacts quicker, getting to her feet and drawing one of her lightsabers in one swift movement. The bright yellow blade is only shades lighter than her pilot's jacket. It fills the air with a golden glow as Trini swings it in an arc, easily deflecting the blaster bolt fired in their direction. It hits the ceiling, leaving a scorched mark in the metal. The Sith trooper fires off a few more shots in rapid succession, trying to catch Trini off-guard, but she doesn't let up, moving with lightning agility, nullifying every shot. Kim watches as Trini, with deadly precision, deflects one last shot right at the trooper. His armor can't protect him from the returning velocity, and the plasma burns a hole right in his chest. He collapses onto his knees, and Trini kicks his blaster rifle aside and yanks off his helmet.

An older man's face looks back at the both of them this time. Trini kneels on the ground as blood trickles out of his mouth. She's whispering something to him, something that Kim can't quite hear from where she is, not that she's focusing.

Kim fumbles with her free hand, pulling out a bacta patch from a pouch on her belt. She's about to tear the packaging open with her teeth when Trini finishes whatever funeral rites she's recited over the trooper and returns to her side.

"Here, let me," Trini says, taking the patch from her hand and helping her take off her backpack to lay down on the floor and get a better look.

Kim stops her the moment she sees Trini put the patch to the side, though, and flex her fingers. "None of that Jedi healing," she warns, pre-emptively.

Trini pauses. "Why not?"

"Because I don't _like_ it. Use the patch."

Trini frowns but helps Kim push up her jacket and shirt to get a better look at the wound then grabs the bacta patch and tears it open.

"Why do you close their eyes after you kill them? Or whatever you just did with that trooper just now?" Kim asks, staring at the ceiling. She's half-asking because she wants to know and half-asking because talking would mean she doesn't have to focus on the patch being applied to her skin.

"I'm apologizing," Trini explains, quietly, "Forgiving them, forgiving myself. Sometimes, I tell them it's just a bad dream and that they need to wake up."

Kim stiffens. Trini pauses, inches away from pressing the bacta patch to her side, and pulls her hands back, misreading Kim's body language. "But… why?"

Trini shrugs. Sticks the patch to Kim's skin and frowns through her hissing in pain as the bacta seeps into her wound and starts taking effect. "How many deaths could have been prevented if the Jedi Order had forgiven those who defected?"

At that, Kim scowls and bolts up, straightening out her shirt and jacket and ignoring the pain in her side. The bacta patch will make her feel as good as new soon enough, and until then, she'll just tough it out. "Who says they need forgiveness? I fought alongside a lot of those Jedi. They should be forgiving the Order -- not that the Order deserves it." She gets to her feet and puts her backpack back on her shoulders and grabs her crossbow.

"Fighting alongside Jedi is nothing like _being_ one," Trini says, coldly. Kim knows immediately that she's touched a nerve and files that information away for later. "Just because you fought in the Wars doesn't mean you could come close to understanding what happened to the Order and what it _meant_ to all of us who stayed behind that our own were leaving us to chase down death. You think they deserve to be apologized to? Go to their graves and ask them what an apology from the Order would mean. They broke their _oath_ and paid in blood."

 _It means they'd still be alive,_ Kim thinks.

Trini keeps walking down the corridor, passing by the two troopers she'd thrown earlier. One of them is dead, but the other one seems to be barely conscious. He tries to grab at Trini's ankle as she walks past, but she just shakes him off.

Kim readies her crossbow.

"Leave him," Trini commands. It's a different tone, now, not the unreadable, slightly irritated and exasperated one that she's already used to from the woman, but _real_ command that Kim has only heard from one other person before. She doesn't follow orders, though. Not anymore.

She walks up to the dying trooper and fires one blaster bolt into his visor. His head drops back to the ground immediately. Looking up at Trini, Kim watches her for a reaction, but the Jedi only keeps walking. Good enough for her.

They don't run into any more trouble until they get down to the lower deck and head for the escape pods. The _Endar Spire_ quakes with explosions, increasing in frequency every time they get used to the pattern. "They're getting close," Trini mutters as they take the lift down to the lower deck.

Kim frowns. "What're they waiting for then? Just blow us out of the sky. Their whole boarding party is gone…"

Trini glares at her as if irritated that she would dare speak aloud a challenge to the universe. Kim keeps her gaze steady -- she doesn't care. "If anything, they're trying to trap us. Either we try to escape and get shot down, possibly planetside or possibly just left to float adrift in space, and they hunt us down. Or we stay here and get blown up. There's probably more troopers posted on the way to the escape pods to cut us off."

"Do you know who's firing at us?" Kim asks as the lift doors slide open and Trini slowly starts down the corridor, her guard up.

"The Sith," Trini mutters, "Obviously."

"No, I mean -- is _Drakkon_ here?"

Trini pauses, looks off into space as if she's concentrating. Kim knows she's probably reaching out with the Force, but what she's feeling Kim doesn't know. After a moment, she shakes her head. "No, Drakkon isn't here. Yet, at least. She'll come if they capture me, though."

"What's so important about you?" Kim scoffs. She doesn't entirely mean it to come off sounding condescending. Well, maybe a little bit.

Trini doesn't seem fazed, though. "I have an ability," she says, "A special connection to the Force that allows me to change the tide of a battle."

"I wouldn't call throwing a couple of troopers across a corridor a 'special connection'," Kim murmurs, raising her eyebrows.

"No, think of something grander. Fleet against fleet -- I can make sure one side wins over the other if I'm given enough time to prepare," Trini elaborates, "The Order calls it _battle meditation._ "

"I thought that was just a myth," Kim says under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing." They enter a mechanical room, filled with consoles and monitors. Dead Republic soldiers are strewn all over the room, their blood on the floor and the consoles. Kim gingerly moves one soldier's arm off of the console he's slumped over to take a look at the monitor. "Escape pods are through the door after this next corridor… looks like all of them are still there. All…" Kim lets out a faint sigh before she finishes her sentence. "All thirty of them."

When she looks up, there's a crease in Trini's brow, and her jaw is slightly clenched. Kim hasn't counted all the bodies that they've passed, but she doesn't doubt that the entire crew is gone. They've been through every room of this cruiser on their way to the escape pods since she was all the way on the other end of the ship in the non-crew quarters.

"We're the only two left," Trini states.

"Alright, then, we _definitely_ have to go--" Kim says, ready to just barge into the next room.

"Wait," Trini says, holding out a hand, "Check the cameras first." She takes Kim's place at the console and pulls up the camera feed in the next room.

"Right." She should've thought of that.

There's an empty corridor leading out of this control room that's also filled with long dead Republic soldiers and, on a lighter note, some dead Sith troopers as well.

"They didn't go down without a fight," Kim comments.

"Yeah," is all Trini says then pulls up the next camera feed. It's the room past the corridor, the escape pod launch bay. Kim counts five… ten Sith troopers walking back and forth from one end of the launch bay to the others. "Too risky to charge in without a plan."

Something on the screen catches her attention. Trini notices it, too, the moment Kim opens her mouth. "Wait, pull up the escape pod diagnostics again."

Trini does so. "All thirty, still in their cradles."

"Check their functionality."

Trini pauses and frowns, "That's… weird. Almost all of them except one have docking clamps placed on them." She tries to override it, but Kim can tell without asking that it can't be that easy.

"They're manual docking clamps," Kim says, glancing at the door, "One escape pod for those troopers and everything else is locked down so if anyone wanted to escape, they'd have to manually hack the clamp themselves -- and go through all those troopers first."

Sighing, Trini steps away from the console, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "Wait a second, there was _way_ more of them than can fit in one escape pod when they boarded. Our cannons shot down _at least_ a dozen fighters that flew into the hangar, each carrying, I don't know, half a dozen crew? Maybe a dozen? You know, right before the hangar blew up."

"Yeah, I heard," Kim murmurs, "The explosion woke me up."

"So… they decommissioned almost all of the escape pods except for one but came here with enough troops for at least ten escape pods?"

Kim absently checks the capacity of her current energy clip. "Maybe they knew nobody was gonna survive running into you. Mighty Jedi and all."

"Don't call me that," Trini mutters, brushing past her. The door leading to the corridor slides open for her, and she glances at Kim. "We need a plan."

Kim shrugs. "Easy enough. You take out your lightsabers and chop their heads off."

Trini scoffs, "I can't take ten at once."

"You can't?" Kim asks, raising her eyebrows, "Are you saying that as a humble Jedi or…"

A hard scowl flickers across Trini's face. "I _won't._ It's too risky by myself. We were already caught off-guard, and, now, with the whole crew dead except for us… I'm in no position to be taking on a squadron by myself. We have to come up with something together, something that's _not_ recklessly risky."

Kim glances down at her stealth field generator. Gets an idea. Looks up and smirks at Trini. "How d'you feel about being bait?"

She commits Trini's deepening scowl to memory.

Minutes later, Kim is fully invisible, hidden behind the masterful stealth field created by the belt. She'd tested it out before they walked into the corridor, making sure that it lasts for as long as she needs it to. It works the same as the stealth suit she'd worn during the Mandalorian Wars did -- she can lightly touch other objects without the field breaking, but when Trini brushes against her from the outside, the field dissipates. Kim just has to make sure she attacks first then and doesn't let any of those troopers discover her before she gets the drop on them.

She follows Trini with silent footsteps, gleefully smiling to herself about how the stealth field generator mutes her presence. It's been some time since she's had the chance to do this, and to be honest, Kim realizes that she's missed the thrill of sneaking up on enemies like this. Working trade routes and running _things_ for various _better business groups_ doesn't put her in much of a position to work as an assassin, but Kim remembers that life. It's full of paranoia and insecurity, looking over her shoulder every moment because she caused other people to look over theirs. It's not a life she would want to return to and smuggling is _infinitely_ safer.

But.

There's also this.

Kim slips past Trini, making sure not to touch her as the doors slide open for them both. Immediately, all the troopers turn to point their blaster rifles at Trini, and she throws her hands up in surrender.

"That's the Jedi!" one of the troopers calls to her squadmates, "Drakkon wants her alive!"

"Doesn't mean we can't rough her up a little bit," another trooper says. Kim resists the urge to immediately snap his neck as she carefully tiptoes around him.

"Drop your weapons, Jedi scum."

There's a loud _clank_ as Trini drops both of her lightsabers on the ground and kicks them forward, and one of the troopers shuffles over to grab them. If she wanted, Kim knows that Trini could've just knocked the guy out right there, but they're working a plan and Trini is trusting her. Waiting for her signal.

It's weird. They hardly know each other, but Jedi seem to have a thing for trusting the plans of others. That damned integrity of theirs.

Kim makes her way all the way to the back of the launch bay, working carefully but quickly to settle behind the last Sith trooper at the end of the room.

The trooper in the front is saying something to Trini, and she's getting on her knees, hands on her head. It's a fake. Kim knows. Jedi are still just as dangerous without their lightsabers. Another trooper steps forward and Kim hears the _krrrcht_ of a stun baton being activated; that's when she gives Trini the signal. She swiftly brings her hands up to wrap around the head of the trooper in front of her and pulls to either side, snapping his neck with a satisfying _crack._

The moment he falls, the other troopers around him go into a state of alert, but Kim is already dodging to the side as someone fires a shot at the spot where she used to be. The stealth field is still active around her body since nobody has hit or come into external contact with her yet, but she's quickly running out of time now that they know she's here.

Kim looks over at Trini. Her hands are out, easily summoning her lightsabers from the Sith trooper's hands. There's two identical, smooth _fzzzzsh_ as she ignites them then stabs two troopers in the chest at the same time.

Blaster fire erupts, mostly directed at Trini who deflects all of the bolts with ease, either harmlessly directing them at the floor or the ceiling or at the troopers themselves. Kim hopes that even with the stealth field generator on that Trini can sense where she is and doesn't just send a bolt coming her way -- she has no idea how experienced this Jedi even is. Well, from what she's seen so far, Trini can handle herself. But, then again, most Jedi can handle themselves against _infantry._

Kim comes up behind another trooper and kicks her legs out from under her then extends her crossbow and fires three shots directly into her back. The muzzle flash from her crossbow must've given her away and slipped through the stealth field -- to be expected -- because Trini shouts at her, "Watch out!" Kim thankfully, instinctively, ducks right away, and a series of blaster bolts marr the wall next to her. Straightening up, she releases a barrage of bolts into the trooper who fired at her then at his friend next to him.

The soft _fshhhhh_ of Trini's lightsabers turning off catches Kim's attention, and she looks over to find Trini kneeling down over the body of the last Sith trooper she had downed, quickly whispering something once again. Kim deactivates the stealth field generator and collapses her crossbow, tucking it under her arm. While Trini's busy, she glances at the escape pods, finding the only one without a docking clamp on it pretty easily -- it's the last one in the row, the hardest one to get to for any Republic soldier looking to escape. Not that she or Trini are _just_ Republic soldiers. Hell, Kim doesn't even consider herself affiliated with the Republic. Not anymore and certainly not now.

She pulls the lever to open the hatch and ducks her head, stepping inside. It's roomy, easily fitting ten people comfortably and probably a dozen or fifteen uncomfortably, but there's nobody left on this ship to join them. Kim finds the control console at the front of the pod and sits down, strapping herself in. Quiet footsteps sound as Trini joins her in the escape pod and straps herself in in the seat next to Kim.

"There's only one way left to go," Trini comments, staring out the viewport. Taris' planet surface looms below them, hazy and distant. Debris floats by from the wreckage of the battle, drifting by lifelessly, and Kim catches a few Sith fighters doing a flyby.

Kim swallows. "They're gonna shoot us down easily." It's not a question or a hypothesis, but a fact. The escape pod isn't fast enough to outrun a Sith fighter, and they have no weapons to defend themselves with, just a thick hull and hopefully a safe landing zone. Maybe.

"Then we have to be ready to make a run for it," Trini says, grimly, "They'll send a shore party once we're down. Drakkon isn't going to let me leave this sector on a Republic ship." She pauses then glances at Kim. "Listen. I know we hired you to work off your record and I _can_ promise you a compensation adjustment once this is all over, but if you don't--"

Kim cuts her off. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, princess."

Trini scoffs and raises her eyebrows, " _Princess?_ "

"You act like one. All… that."

"Rich coming from a scoundrel."

"I prefer the term _entrepreneur,_ " Kim corrects then tightens her hand over the level that will release the escape pod, "Besides, they'll hack the mainframe for the crew manifest once they clean up here -- if they didn't already get their hands on it during the boarding invasion and transmitted it back to Drakkon. She'll know you wouldn't have escaped alone."

"You can still get out of here once we land," Trini says, quietly, but there's no hint of resentment or condescension in her voice. A Jedi putting the safety of others above all else.

Kim takes a deep breath and sighs but doesn't answer. She yanks on the release lever, and the escape pod jolts, rocketing out into the void of space. Pieces of debris _clank_ against the pod's hull as they propel toward Taris' surface, but the protective exterior stays intact and strong. They're still sitting ducks out here, though.

Trini taps the monitor in front of her. "Hostiles inbound at--"

The escape pod spins wildly out of control as a laser bolt from a Sith fighter slams right into them. The air is knocked out of Kim's lungs as her body almost flies out of her seat but her seatbelt keeps her firmly there. Her head bangs against the back of her seat. She blinks, and stars fill her vision.

"Brace yourself!" she yells, steadying herself against the console with one hand. With the other hand, she reaches over, fumbling but managing to get a grip on Trini's jacket sleeve. The escape pod collides with what Kim only briefly recognizes as the wing of a Republic fighter then she loses her grip.

A flaming ball of fire and metal, their escape pod spirals rapidly toward Taris. The cabin fills with heat and smoke as alerts pop up on the monitors, warning of dropping oxygen levels, panels flying off of the pod's exterior, and dangerously rising temperatures, but Kim and Trini both ignore them all. There's nothing they can do against those warnings except wait them out.

The escape pod enters the Tarisian atmosphere.

"Hold on!" Trini shouts over the alarms, grabbing Kim's hand and grasping it tightly.

It's what Kim focuses on as she closes her eyes, the roar of their descent loud and angry in her ears. Then, the ground rushes up at them, throwing the pod around and around like a rag doll and her head smacks against her seat again-- and nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was GOING to be a full oneshot but then THE FIRST FUCKING SCENE (this entire chapter) WAS SEVEN THOUSAND WORDS why can't i be concise smh
> 
> i'm so sad about star wars, alexa play across the stars and the force theme
> 
> but i also love star wars so so much pls go play knights of the old republic and its sequel, knights of the old republic ii: the sith lords, they're both available on amazon and ebay and steam and ios for rly cheap it changed my life and shaped me as a star wars fan


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